The 6 Greatest Lies Ever Told by Children

Children are horrible, sticky monsters who don't do a single thing that isn't motivated by the basest of human emotions.

Jupiterimages/Pixland/Getty Images(thinking) "How will this benefit me, right now, at the expense of everyone else in existence?"

One of the most charming characteristics these two-legged mess makers possess is their inclination to lie about anything and everything, whether dealing with parents, teachers, or even their peers. Not a playground conversation goes by that isn't littered with lies and empty boasts, habits that start to form at a shockingly early age.

Siri Stafford / Photodisc / Getty Images"I know karate."

So, in the interest of better protecting you and your family, I've documented some of the greatest lies ever told by children, which I encourage you to keep in mind the next time you're approached by a strange child off the leash.

#6. "I Feel Sick"

Everyone feels sick on occasion. If you spend much time on the Internet, you'll see something that makes you feel sick a couple times a week.

BananaStock/Getty Images"Nothing can shock me anym- OH GOD NO WHY NO? HOW CAN AN EAR CANAL STRETCH THAT WIDE?"

And because they spend so much of their day literally cramming dirt into their mouths, children are no different: They will fall ill, too. Indeed, until the age of 5 or so, every time children announce that they feel sick, there probably is something actually wrong with them. But that changes pretty quickly once being sick means staying home from school. Recall that children are, quite literally, learning machines, and it isn't going to take many iterations for a child to learn that the sequence of steps ...

Feeling Sick -> Announcing You Feel Sick -> Staying Home From School

... can be duplicated without all the unpleasant business involved in that first step. From there it's only a small step to fake barfing sounds and palm licking.

BananaStock/Getty Images"I think I got the Ebola cancer, Mom. I love you. Don't cry. You have to be brave."

#5. "The Dog Ate My Homework"

Perhaps the most famous of childhood lies, to the point that it's now more a cliche than anything else, this excuse was used by pint-sized deceit peddlers to conceal why they hadn't finished their homework. Even if it's used ironically now, the spirit behind it absolutely lives on -- children are still dumb and hate homework. They just blame the printer instead.

But let's go back to the original "The dog ate my homework" lie for a second, and have a closer look at the features that make it so famous. One, notice how it's just a little implausible, but not completely so. Dogs kind of do all sorts of horrible things with their mouths or butts.

AbleStock.com/Getty ImagesAnd sometimes with both at the same time.

Two, see how hard it is to disprove? What kind of maniac is going to sift through a dog's leavings, looking for fractions drills? Cliche though it may be, this is a very powerful lie that these wee princelings of lies have stumbled upon, and you'll notice that many of its features show up in the lies to come.

#4. "I Was in a Gang Back in My Hometown"

Because adults enjoy activities like drinking and sex-drinking, and also because we can't stand them, we often have cause to leave children lightly attended for a length of time, with only their peers to keep them company. This inevitably leads to a frighteningly quick descent into ferality, with the children jockeying for position like the pack animals they essentially are, using all sorts of saber-rattling techniques.

It should come as no surprise, then, that open deceit plays a big role in this posturing, with the "I was in a gang in my hometown" proto-lie being a fashionable gambit. Obviously most popular among children who've moved or spent their summers elsewhere, it shares some of the features previously discussed, in that it's hard to immediately disprove. Assuming the lie is bought, it establishes that the liar is not to be stepped to and will absolutely shiv you on the swing set if you give her a reason.

BananaStock/Getty Images"Lucky for you that I lost my shivs in the move."

Older, more dangerous children will perhaps be more familiar with the variation on this lie popular among their ugly peers: "I have a girlfriend online."

BananaStock/Getty Images"Yeah, she's mega hot. She was in my gang too, actually. I gave her all my shivs as a going-away present."